Mount Pleasant, IA—The Principia Men's Basketball team traveled to Mount Pleasant, Iowa to take on the Iowa Wesleyan Tigers in their first conference matchup of the season. The Panthers knew how important a 1-0 start in conference would be and were looking to steal a road game in Iowa on Tuesday night. After carrying the lead into halftime, a slow second half proved to be the Panthers downfall as they would fall to the Tigers by a score of 92-85.
The Panthers had a very strong start in this one as they were able to control the glass on both ends of the court. After a few missed opportunities on the offensive end, sophomore Zack Matters got the scoring started for the Panthers as he knocked down two free-throws one minute into the contest. After a lay-up from senior TreVaughn Goodman the Panthers were firing on all cylinders on both ends of the court. Iowa Wesleyan would not be denied much longer as Alex Dentlinger knocked down a three-pointer from the wing to get the Tigers on the board. Coming in to the contest the Panthers knew that the Tigers wanted to shoot a lot of three-pointers and hoped to control that area of the court on defense. Unfortunately five of the next six shots for the Tigers were three-pointers as the Panthers were unable to stop the Iowa offensive attack. The Panthers responded however, as sophomore AJ Byrd knocked down a couple of three-pointers of his own to get his team back in the game. For the rest of the first half the Panthers were able to dig in on defense while also controlling the glass on the offensive court, as they would trade baskets with the Tigers for a majority of the remainder of the first half. Sophomores Clark Davidson and Nathan Brantingham each had big first halves as the two Panther big man were able to get whatever shot they wanted against the smaller Iowa defenders. After a back and forth half the Panthers headed into the locker room leading the Tigers by a score of 37-36.
Coming out of the break the Panthers knew that they needed to continue to control the court on their offensive end while also doing a much better job on the defensive end against the Iowa three-point attack. However, Iowa scored first after a lay-up from Jarryd Fernandes, but the Panther big man Davidson responded with a lay-up of his own to give the lead back to the Panthers. After a few minutes of trading baskets and the lead, the Tigers went on a run that saw their lead balloon to as many as 15 points with 9:10 remaining in the half. The run was led by some good shooting on the part of the Tigers, but also a lack of defense on the part of the Panthers. This team would not quit however, and the Panthers clawed their way back into it with some great offense from sophomores Byrd and Payton Sellers. With 5:15 left in the half the lead had been cut to just five points, but the Panthers were unable to get over the last hump and eventually fell to the Tigers by a score of 92-85.
Good to Know—AJ Byrd finished as the high scorer for the Panthers in this one as he poured in a great game with 28 points, 5 assists, and 3 rebounds. Payton Sellers finished with 20 points and 6 rebounds, while Clark Davidson had 14 points and 7 rebounds.
Next Up—The Panthers will be home for their next conference matchup against the Eureka Red Devils on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 pm. See you there!
